The anthology film is surprisingly underutilised in Hollywood, despite the success of "Pulp Fiction". I have often wondered if this is due to the fact that almost everybody who sees such a movie walks out thinking that, say, one of the stories was good but the other two weren't. A lot of movies are uneven, but making a movie that contains more than one story seems to particularly invite this criticism; you can't help comparing the individual pieces.
"Zoo" unfortunately doesn't buck this trend. It starts very strong, but the mannered approach wears thin across five stories, in an approach to filmic storytelling that usually sticks with three.
The first story depicts a heart wrenching family situation in which two girls are twins, one doted on by her mother, the other one abused and neglected. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep watching; the material is quite painful. The second story is probably the best: a young woman and her kid brother find themselves imprisoned in a dingy cell by a Jigsaw-type figure, whom they know is planning to kill them. The kid brother can move from cell to cell where he meets other captors. This story has a surprisingly touching ending, and I thought it was interesting that they went with a Western actor to play the bad guy. I wonder what that's about.
With the third story, I thought the movie made an unfortunate drop in quality - though it was still good. This one depicts a family in which both parents believe the other one is dead or invisible, and the young boy who acts as an intermediary. This one is kept afloat by the boy's performance, but it's too standoffish to be interesting.
The last couple I didn't really enjoy. One is an animated movie, using CGI done anime style, and the other is where the movie gets its title from: it's something to do with a guy who kills a woman in a zoo and takes photos of her body decomposing. I didn't really get it.
The animated one should have been more interesting; it's certainly visually beautiful. I just wasn't expecting that sequence during a live action movie. It's something to do with a man who creates an android in the shape of a young girl.
These stories are all quite interesting, if not all successful. That alone is enough to recommend it.
"Zoo" unfortunately doesn't buck this trend. It starts very strong, but the mannered approach wears thin across five stories, in an approach to filmic storytelling that usually sticks with three.
The first story depicts a heart wrenching family situation in which two girls are twins, one doted on by her mother, the other one abused and neglected. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep watching; the material is quite painful. The second story is probably the best: a young woman and her kid brother find themselves imprisoned in a dingy cell by a Jigsaw-type figure, whom they know is planning to kill them. The kid brother can move from cell to cell where he meets other captors. This story has a surprisingly touching ending, and I thought it was interesting that they went with a Western actor to play the bad guy. I wonder what that's about.
With the third story, I thought the movie made an unfortunate drop in quality - though it was still good. This one depicts a family in which both parents believe the other one is dead or invisible, and the young boy who acts as an intermediary. This one is kept afloat by the boy's performance, but it's too standoffish to be interesting.
The last couple I didn't really enjoy. One is an animated movie, using CGI done anime style, and the other is where the movie gets its title from: it's something to do with a guy who kills a woman in a zoo and takes photos of her body decomposing. I didn't really get it.
The animated one should have been more interesting; it's certainly visually beautiful. I just wasn't expecting that sequence during a live action movie. It's something to do with a man who creates an android in the shape of a young girl.
These stories are all quite interesting, if not all successful. That alone is enough to recommend it.